Peggy McGehee makes a strong case for licensing firearms, drawing attention to the Maine Constitution’s guarantee of citizens’ rights to pursue and obtain safety (Opinion: NRA and Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine should support gun licensing,” Dec. 5). In light of those fundamental rights, it’s sobering to realize that our most precious citizens, those in greatest need of safety and protection, have no right to vote. They rely on adults to take their safety seriously. With guns the leading cause of childhood death in the U.S., we must commit ourselves to doing a better job of it.

Adults may be willing to risk gun violence when choosing to go bowling, go to a restaurant, or drive on Exit 15 in Yarmouth.
For some, such risks may be a reasonable price to pay for maintaining broad, unregulated access to guns in the state.

But what do our children want and need? From ages 6 to 17, their school attendance is compulsory. Unless approved for home schooling, children are compelled to leave the protection of their parents for a great part of each school day. Many children have trouble making the initial transition to school. We teach them to trust parents, teachers, police and others to make the world safe for them. Poignant proof is found in 911 recordings of young children in places like Uvalde politely and repeatedly pleading “Please come…” during extended violent attacks.

Only adults are blessed with the right to vote. Our children’s constitutional rights to safety will remain unprotected until we enact commonsense gun safety legislation.

Ellen Kandoian Sweeney
Scarborough

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